Health care law encompasses the laws and regulations governing hospital and health care administration, and an understanding of health care insurance is integral to it. There are significant differences in the types and amount of coverage provided by various private insurance policies, such as HMOs, PPOs, disability insurance, and hospital indemnity insurance, just as there are important differences in the cost to the purchasers of health insurance. There are also public health care insurance programs. Elderly and disabled persons may be eligible for coverage through the federal Medicare program. The joint state-federal Medicaid program helps certain individuals, including disabled persons and low-income elderly persons, pay for long-term care and in-home health care.
Roanoke is an independent city located in the Roanoke Metropolitan Area and the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Roanoke is also part of the Roanoke Region of Virginia, and is the largest city in the Roanoke Valley. The city of Roanoke is adjacent to the city of Salem and the town of Vinton and is otherwise surrounded by, but politically separate from, Roanoke County. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 94,911. The city is bisected by the Roanoke River. Roanoke is the commercial and cultural hub of much of the surrounding area of Virginia and southern West Virginia. The United States Census Bureau includes in Roanoke's metropolitan area the counties of Botetourt, Franklin, Craig, and Roanoke, and the cities of Salem and Roanoke. The metropolitan area's population in the past four censuses has been reported to be: 1970: 199,629 1980: 220,393 1990: 224,477 2000: 235,932 2005 (estimate): 292,983 2008 (estimate): 298,694 Figures through 2000 do not include Franklin County (50,345 est. 2005 population) and Craig County (5,154 est. 2005 population). The Census Bureau has since added them to the Roanoke MSA, which is the fourth largest in Virginia, and the largest in the western half of the state. Its current rank is 201 among all 363 MSAs. The Roanoke, VA MSA population changed from 288,471 in 2000 to 298,694 in 2008, a 3.54 percent change. The population is projected to be 324,882 in 2020, a 12.62 percent change between 2000 and 2020.